Friday, January 30, 2009

I received a handmade hooded towel as a shower gift when I was pregnant with Elle and didn't realize at the time what a great gift it was. I should have guessed that those thin little hooded towels you pick up at the big box stores aren't absorbent or big enough to actually dry a completely soaked squirming 9 month old. I figured it out pretty quickly though. I love them because it's such a simple idea (have you noticed I like the immediate satisfaction type projects best?!), they're super useful, and if you use quality towels like I do, they'll be around for years of bath and beach time fun!

So here you have it, I'll share the love, a tutorial on how to make these simple hooded towels. Although if you need an extra special one for a super cute gift or if all your kid's stuff has his/her name emblazoned on it, but you don't have an embroidery machine of your own, I still suggest you buy one of the super fantastic Elle Belle embroidered towels!
1) pick up a nice quality bath towel and wash rag in the same or a coordinating print.
2) fold the wash rag in half long ways, right sides together
3) sew one of the short ends of the wash rag together. Flip inside out to make the hood.
4) pin the unsewn side of the wash rag to the middle top of the long side of the bath towel (pin it further up the wash rag if you're making the towel for a baby, or closer to the rag's edge if you're making it for a toddler or older child).
5) Sew the hood on and enjoy that cuddly after bath time with your little one even more!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

We have some good news to share with everyone, we’re having a baby! Okay, not right this minute, but sometime around August 5th :)

The timing worked out so that we could tell our family and friends at Christmas. I wanted to think of a cute way to tell Elle because I knew she’d be so excited. The Etsy shop, Ten Finger Workshop, makes adorable little wood people who have been on my Etsy favorites forever and it was the perfect excuse to have a custom set made. I sent Lily a picture of the three of us and a couple ideas of ways she could paint the family so that they look like us (she painted me in my Etsy shirt, Daddy with a stack of pancakes (he cooks a mean Sunday breakfast!), Elle with her curls and a bow) and I asked her to add a baby wearing something green. I vividly remember opening the picture Lily sent me of the little family she made for us. I hadn’t really thought about what “we” would look like as a family of 4 instead of 3, it was a fun way to picture our growing family!Christmas morning we waited for some of my Doug’s family to arrive so that Elle could open the present and we could share the news with them at the same time. By the time we got around to opening that gift, Elle had opened nearly all of her other gifts and was consequently in a present induced frenzy running all over the house playing with everything and singing Jingle Bells at the top of her lungs. We sat down to open her little family and it went something like this:

Elle: “Oh, look it’s Mommy, Daddy, and Elle”Me as I pulled the little baby out of the box: “Yes, and who is this?”Elle: “It’s me when I was a baby”Me a little teary eyed: “No, it’s your baby brother or sister. Mommy has a baby in her belly”Elle: “Oh”And then she got up out of my lap and ran into her room to play with a new toy.

So I guess that’ll teach me about having expectations for a 3 year old reaction. I waited until she had calmed down later that morning and was sitting quietly by herself. This time the conversation went like this:

Me: “Elle, are you excited that Mommy has a baby in her belly?”Elle: “You DO?!”Me: “Yes”Elle: “Right Now?!”Me: “Yes”Elle as she threw her arms around me for a big hug: “I’m going to be a big sister??? I can’t believe it Mommy!”

About Me

Stacey is a business analyst by day and blogger/seamster/ crafter/party planner/aspiring Super Mom by night & weekends. When she's not solving fortune 500 companies system and process problems she's making whatever inspires her at the moment. Her uber supportive husband, Doug, and adorable daughters, Elle & Liv, are her motivation, inspiration, and sense of accomplishment.